Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola (born al Laurence DiMeola * 22. July 1954 in Jersey City , New Jersey ) is an Italo - American fusion - and jazz - guitarist .
Live and act
Al Di Meola studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston . Already in 1972 Di Meola played in the quintet of keyboardist Barry Miles ; two years later, at the age of 19, he was discovered by the pianist Chick Corea and accepted into his musical group Return to Forever , which included Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White . With them he toured all over the world. Together with Return to Forever , he received the 1975 Grammy for "best jazz performance in a group".
The popular Guitar Player magazine awarded him the title "Best New Talent". In 1976 he released his first solo album, which was a success. At the same time he was a member of Stomu Yamashta's Go project. He was also named "Best Jazz Guitarist" by the Guitar Player in 1977 and his second album was named "Best Guitar LP". This made him the youngest guitarist to ever receive these awards; he was awarded this title four times in total. Guitar Player also made him the “best acoustic guitarist” three times and accepted him into his “Gallery of Greats” in 1981 - alongside musicians like Leo Kottke and Andrés Segovia . In the same year he had a guest appearance at the legendary Frank Zappa concert on November 17th in New York's "Ritz". Recorded by WLIR FM Radio, the East Coast concert was broadcast on the radio. In the 1970s, Di Meola was also known as the "fastest guitarist in the world".
In 1981 he recorded the famous live album Friday Night in San Francisco with guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía , which sold over two million times. In 1982 the studio album Passion, Grace & Fire followed . In 1996, the brilliant trio tried to build on previous successes with The Trio , another studio album, and a reunion tour . With his formation New World Sinfonia , to which Peo Alfonsi belonged in recent years , he also presented world music material.
At the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991, Di Meola played together with the Israeli musician David Broza out of patriotic motivation (“I wanted to experience a war”) in front of US soldiers in Israel .
Style and playing technique
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Even on the first recordings with Chick Corea, Meola's particularly high speed can be heard, which he was even able to increase in the episode. It is remarkable that Di Meola always kept a clean tone and did not achieve his speed by hammering , as is common with many electric guitarists. Instead, he actually played every note with his right hand.
His playing only became characteristic through the frequent use of percussive techniques (heard particularly well in the track Elegant Gypsy Suite on the album Elegant Gypsy ). In doing so, he muffled the strings on the bridge to create a duller sound. In contrast to what is usual in rock, however, he not only played chords in this way, which is known as muted , but also tied the tones produced in this way strongly into his solo playing. With fast runs with increasing pitch, he was able to create a unique sound image in which the overtones also increased with the pitch.
With the same technique and with the aid of an effects device, he made melodies with succinct rhythms appear almost as if they were played by a percussion instrument.
Equipment
Al Di Meola prefers electric guitars with two humbuckers . So he initially played on Les Paul models from Gibson Guitar Corporation , whose pickups, however, he exchanged for those from DiMarzio . On the cover of Elegant Gypsy he can be seen with a black Les Paul and the cream-colored “Super Distortions” by DiMarzio.
In the mid-1980s he came across PRS Guitars . At the same time, Larry DiMarzio built a set of pickups especially for him, which was used on the PRS signature models that were not for sale at the time. The pickups from DiMarzio were, however, in stores - listed in the range at that time as DP201 (neck pickup) and DP202 (bridge pickup) - for everyone. The pickups are currently only offered by the manufacturer through its custom shop.
At the end of the 1990s Gibson built him a full resonance guitar based on the Super 400 model, which was also not freely available in stores. This model can be seen on the back cover of Orange and Blue . Al Di Meola is currently one of the PRS endorsers again . The model made for him in the characteristic “prism optics” is available for sale this time and is equipped with PRS pickups.
Di Meola has a special relationship with the electro-acoustic guitars from Ovation . For years he played on a "Deep Bowl Custom Legend" (that is, a Custom Legend model with a deep body) until he got his own models. Initially an electro-acoustic model based on the Custom Legend with a deep body, later a flat one with a built-in MIDI trigger, since Di Meola was one of the first jazz guitarists who also enriched his guitar playing with synthetic tones on stage. The company is currently marketing an electro-acoustic model based on the Custom Legend motif (model no. 1769 ADII).
Quotes
- “I pray when I play! Music is a religion! "(1998)
- "Jazz is so intellectual, it targets the brain, but doesn't move the heart" (1998)
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Albums under your own name
With other musiciansWith Return to Forever
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With John Mclaughlin and Paco de Lucia
With Stomu Yamashta
Others
Sampler
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Video albums
- Cosmopolitan Live (2008)
- Speak a Volcano: Return to Electric Guitar (2007)
- One Of These Nights - May 17, 2004 in Ludwigsburg
- Live At Montreux 1994
- Al Di Meola (1992)
- Live At Montreux 1986/1993
- The Super Guitar Trio In Concert - Live 1990
- Friday Night In San Francisco
literature
- Lord of the Fingers. Interview in: Scala 5/1998, p. 82 ff.
- Picking Techniques ISBN 978-0-7935-1018-4 .
- A Guide To Chords, Scales, & Arpeggios ISBN 978-0-7935-2677-2 .
- Music - Words - Pictures
- Friday Night in San Francisco ISBN 978-0-7935-1246-1 .
- Cielo e Terra ISBN 978-0-7935-1876-0 .
- Al Di Meola Solos ISBN 978-0-7935-3671-9 .
swell
- ↑ Di Meola, Al ( Memento August 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Jazz.com , February 09, 2011.
- ^ Grammy Winner 1975 - Best Jazz Performance By A Group , Grammy.com , February 09, 2011.
- ↑ Guitar Player presents Al Di Meola39s New World Sinfonia March 6 at Yoshis Oakland ( Memento from January 24th 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), Guitar Player , February 11, 2011.
- ↑ Al Di Meola , laut.de , February 09, 2011.
- ^ A b Al Di Meola New World Sinfonia , Nova Concerts International , February 11, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.mtv.de/music/172197-al-di-meola.html/bio (link not available)
- ↑ Chart sources: Germany Austria Switzerland
- ↑ Gold / platinum database of the Federal Association of the Music Industry, accessed on November 11, 2015
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Al Di Meola at laut.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meola, Al Di |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dimeola, Al Laurence (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian-American fusion and jazz guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 22, 1954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jersey City (other sources: Bergenfield , New Jersey) |